Centre for Policy on Ageing



Imbalance in an older population — an epidemiological analysis
Author(s)	William A Satariano, Gerald N DeLorenze, Dwayne Reed
Journal title	Journal of Aging and Health, vol 8, no 3, August 1996
Pages	pp 334-358
Keywords	Mobility ; Gait loss ; Falls ; Young elderly ; Octogenarians ; United States of America.
Annotation	Despite the growing public health significance of imbalance in older people, few epidemiological studies of imbalance in the general population have been conducted. In this study, imbalance, defined as the inability to maintain a full-tandem stand for 10 seconds, was assessed as part of an interview with 2018 residents of Marin County, California, aged 55 years and older. Results showed that the likelihood of imbalance was greater in women, those aged 85 years and over, and those with less than 12 years of education. It was also associated with specific chronic conditions, including hypertension, stroke and cataracts. After adjusting for those conditions, imbalance was associated with reduced lower-body strength, poor short term memory, abstention from alcohol, and current smoking. The study concluded that with the oldest old comprising the fastest growing age group in developed nations, imbalance may become a major public health problem.
Accession Number	CPA-980116403 A
Classmark	C4: C8G: OLF: BBA: BBM: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.